That through all the dreamy Summer Ah! deluded Shawondasee! Thus the Four Winds were divided; Thus the sons of Mudjekeewis Had their stations in the heavens, At the corners of the heavens ; For himself the West-Wind only Kept the mighty Mudjekeewis. III. 336 HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD. DOWNWARD through the evening twilight, In the days that are forgotten, In the unremembered ages, From the full moon fell Nokomis, Fell the beautiful Nokomis, She a wife, but not a mother. She was sporting with her women, Swinging in a swing of grape-vines, When her rival, the rejected, Full of jealousy and hatred, Cut the leafy swing asunder, Cut in twain the twisted grape-vines, And Nokomis fell affrighted Downward through the evening twilight, On the Muskoday, the meadow, On the prairie full of blossoms. "See! a star falls!" said the people; "From the sky a star is falling!" There among the ferns and mosses, There among the prairie lilies, On the Muskoday, the meadow, And she called her name Wenonah, And Nokomis warned her often, Saying oft, and oft repeating, "O, beware of Mudjekeewis, Lie not down upon the meadow, Stoop not down among the lilies, Lest the West-Wind come and harm you!' But she heeded not the warning, Heeded not those words of wisdom, And the West-Wind came at evening, Walking lightly o'er the prairie, Whispering to the leaves and blossoms, Bending low the flowers and grasses, Found the beautiful Wenonah, Lying there among the lilies, Wooed her with his words of sweetness, Wooed her with his soft caresses, Till she bore a son in sorrow, Bore a son of love and sorrow. Thus was born my Hiawatha, Thus was born the child of wonder; But the daughter of Nokomis, Hiawatha's gentle mother, In her anguish died deserted By the West-Wind, false and faithless, By the heartless Mudjekeewis. For her daughter, long and loudly Wailed and wept the sad Nokomis ; "O that I were dead!" she murmured, "O that I were dead, as thou art! No more work, and no more weeping, By the shores of Gitche Gumee, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Bright before it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, |